Crash of a Short S.29 Stirling III near Buren: 8 killed
Date & Time:
Feb 19, 1943 at 2100 LT
Operator:
Registration:
BF457
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Bourn - Bourn
Crew on board:
8
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
8
Circumstances:
The airplane departed RAF Bourn at 1750LT on an operation to Wilhelmshaven. While overflying the Frisian Islands, it was shot down by a German fighter and crashed 5 km east of Buren, on Ameland Island. All eight crew members were killed.
Crew:
F/O David Joseph Hopson, pilot,
Sgt Clifford William James, flight engineer,
F/O Edward Lloyd George Ratcliffe, navigator,
F/O Lawrence Bartlett Carson, bomb aimer,
Sgt Ronald Frank Fowler, wireless operator,
Sgt Alfred James Ellis, air gunner,
Sgt Ronald George Weaver, air gunner,
F/O John Williams, air gunner.
Crew:
F/O David Joseph Hopson, pilot,
Sgt Clifford William James, flight engineer,
F/O Edward Lloyd George Ratcliffe, navigator,
F/O Lawrence Bartlett Carson, bomb aimer,
Sgt Ronald Frank Fowler, wireless operator,
Sgt Alfred James Ellis, air gunner,
Sgt Ronald George Weaver, air gunner,
F/O John Williams, air gunner.
Probable cause:
Shot down by a German fighter.
